A South Haven neighbor of a proposed $15 million nursing home and assisted-living facility has gone to court to stop the project.Marcine Thomas, who has lived in Windfern Forest for three years, filed papers in Anne Arundel Circuit Court requesting a judicial review of a July 9 state decision to extend the certificate of need the owners must have to build the complex.The Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission gave the Mariner Health Group -- formerly Allegis Health Services Inc. -- until February 1998 to build the center on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road.

THE EVE of the official celebration of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday might be a good time to weigh in on the flap over the Confederate flag flying atop South Carolina's Capitol. The NAACP has called for a boycott of the state until the Stars and Bars is lowered. Some South Carolinians have resisted. Last week, 6,000 marched to proclaim that the flag represents Southern heritage and pride. It should never come down, they shouted. But let's get the reaction of South Carolinians, the Sons of Confederate Veterans and others who still cherish the Stars and Bars, to the flag being in a place where its image clearly shouldn't be, but is. It might help explain why many blacks -- in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and out -- feel the Confederate flag represents racism and slavery.

The Anne Arundel County Council unanimously has rejected a Rockville company's request for help in obtaining low-interest financing for a $27 million nursing home and assisted-living center outside Annapolis.County Councilman William C. Mulford II, whose district would have been the site for the 2 1/2 -story center, said the arrangement "would have been a bad financing deal for our taxpayers."Beechwood Heritage Retirement Community Inc. asked the council for a resolution supporting the project, which would have allowed the firm to finance construction on 11.4 acres off South Haven Road by selling tax-exempt bonds.

A state health agency has granted a Prince George's County company's request for more time to build a $15 million nursing home and assisted-living facility on the South Haven peninsula.The Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission (MHRPC) voted 6-2 yesterday to extend Allegis Health Services Inc.'s certificate of need, which was to expire this December, to February 1998 so it can build the facility on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road."We are pleased with the results," said Paul J. Diaz, the chief executive officer with the Calverton-based firm.

SOUTH HAVEN, Ind. -- Mattie and Dozier Allen Sr. courted for nearly 12 years before they married.But that lengthy courtship paid off. The couple celebrates their 65th wedding anniversary today.The two met in school in Thomasville, Ala., in 1917. They were both 17 years old at the time.Dozier Allen moved to Gary in 1920 to work at U.S. Steel, while Mattie Allen remained in Alabama to work as a teacher. They kept in contact through the mail and occasional visits.Sitting side-by-side in their home here, the two, now 93 years old, remind each other that during that time they both had other beaus and girlfriends.

ON THE SURFACE, the prolonged squabble over a plan to build a nursing home and assisted living facility on the South DTC Haven peninsula near Annapolis may seem like just another not-in-my-backyard complaint. But aside from evident NIMBY fears, this project raises troubling questions about how state authorities handle permits in ways that can cause emotions to flare in affected communities.In 1990, when the state issued the initial "certificate of need," the nursing facility was supposed to be built in Crofton.

Two state senators from Anne Arundel County want a state commission to revoke a certificate of need for a nursing home that has yet to be built near Heritage Harbour eight years after the document was issued.An emergency bill introduced yesterday by Democrat John C. Astle and Republican Robert R. Neall would force the State Health Resources Planning Commission to revoke any certificate of need issued before 1993 for a facility that has no operating license.The proposed Beechwood LifeCenter, which is to be built on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road, is the only project that fits the bill's description.

Need to change school board selectionA bill is expected to be introduced into the legislature by Del. John Leopold which will offer the citizens of Anne Arundel County the opportunity, via a referendum, to choose the process whereby school board members will be selected.Mr. Leopold has been successfully gaining non-partisan support for his bill because many community groups and individual activists have continued to argue that the present process is not working to anyone's satisfaction. Accountability is the issue.

A clerical error in the county courthouse has stymied a South Haven woman who sued to block construction of a proposed $15 million senior housing center.Marcine Thomas filed papers in Anne Arundel Circuit Court in September asking Judge Clayton Greene to review a decision by the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission that gave Mariner Health Group until February 1998 to build a nursing home and assisted living center. The facility would be on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road.According to court records, Greene signed an order Oct. 10, dismissing Thomas' lawsuit.

It was 48 hours to Revolution Day in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and the local kindergartners were practice-parading through their Mexican village like pint-sized "Zapatistas" -- boys sporting Pancho Villa mustaches, girls rouged and ruffled into elegant senoritas. In the spirit of the occasion, they carried balloons, banners and, of course, guns, albeit toy ones.Among the cheering onlookers were many Americans, who I first assumed were on a tour. After all, I'd just gotten off a bus myself.

A South Haven neighbor of a proposed $15 million nursing home and assisted-living facility has gone to court to stop the project.Marcine Thomas, who has lived in Windfern Forest for three years, filed papers in Anne Arundel Circuit Court requesting a judicial review of a July 9 state decision to extend the certificate of need the owners must have to build the complex.The Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission gave the Mariner Health Group -- formerly Allegis Health Services Inc. -- until February 1998 to build the center on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road.

ON THE SURFACE, the prolonged squabble over a plan to build a nursing home and assisted living facility on the South DTC Haven peninsula near Annapolis may seem like just another not-in-my-backyard complaint. But aside from evident NIMBY fears, this project raises troubling questions about how state authorities handle permits in ways that can cause emotions to flare in affected communities.In 1990, when the state issued the initial "certificate of need," the nursing facility was supposed to be built in Crofton.

A clerical error in the county courthouse has stymied a South Haven woman who sued to block construction of a proposed $15 million senior housing center.Marcine Thomas filed papers in Anne Arundel Circuit Court in September asking Judge Clayton Greene to review a decision by the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission that gave Mariner Health Group until February 1998 to build a nursing home and assisted living center. The facility would be on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road.According to court records, Greene signed an order Oct. 10, dismissing Thomas' lawsuit.

Two state senators from Anne Arundel County want a state commission to revoke a certificate of need for a nursing home that has yet to be built near Heritage Harbour eight years after the document was issued.An emergency bill introduced yesterday by Democrat John C. Astle and Republican Robert R. Neall would force the State Health Resources Planning Commission to revoke any certificate of need issued before 1993 for a facility that has no operating license.The proposed Beechwood LifeCenter, which is to be built on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road, is the only project that fits the bill's description.

A state health agency has granted a Prince George's County company's request for more time to build a $15 million nursing home and assisted-living facility on the South Haven peninsula.The Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission (MHRPC) voted 6-2 yesterday to extend Allegis Health Services Inc.'s certificate of need, which was to expire this December, to February 1998 so it can build the facility on 11.37 acres off South Haven Road."We are pleased with the results," said Paul J. Diaz, the chief executive officer with the Calverton-based firm.